The Hindu : National : Power demand peaks, so do cuts and protests

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National

Power demand peaks, so do cuts and protests

Staff Reporter

Crisis adds to waterless Delhi’s woes; residents storm offices of distribution companies

NEW DELHI: The capital’s agony caused by the surge in power demand and power cuts got worse on Saturday, with Delhi registering the season’s highest peak demand so far — 4,218 MW.

No area in the city was spared the pain of gruelling power cuts. Long outages were reported from all across the city, even as the temperature shot up to 43.7 degrees Celsius. The power crisis only added to the waterless city’s woes.

At the time of peak power demand, Delhi faced a shortfall of 300 MW, and the power distribution companies had to overdraw from the Northern Grid.

State Power Department officials said the peak demand for power could have crossed the 4,300-MW mark had it not been for the weekend. “On Saturday, most of the government offices as well as private ones are closed, so the demand was curtailed to some extent. Had it been a weekday, the demand would have been easily higher by another 100 MW,” said an official of the Power Department.

With the outages, the public protests also soared. Agitated and angry residents stormed the offices of power distribution companies in several areas, shouting slogans and vandalising the premises. According to the police, in East Delhi the protesters damaged office furniture, two vans and some stationery in separate incidents.

A protest was also organised outside the residence of Delhi Finance Minister A.K. Walia. Residents of East Delhi, facing power crisis for the past several days, gathered outside Dr. Walia’s residence and raised slogans.

The protesters also blocked the busy Vikas Marg and burnt tyres. Police personnel had to be brought in to disperse the crowd.

Power cuts, ranging from four to six hours, were reported from Minto Road, Karol Bagh, Mukherjee Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, South Extension, Gulmohur Park, Hauz Khaz, Janakpuri, Mayur Vihar, Malviya Nagar, Dwarka, Palam, Kotla, Dishad Garden, Vikaspuri, Tilak Nagar and Trilokpuri.

Delhi’s power generation on Saturday was 1,257 MW, and load-shedding was carried out throughout the day.

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